1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for cleaning the magnetic head or heads in a flexible disk system of the type in which the flexible magnetic disk is disposed in a shell. With flexible disk drives, as with other pieces of data processing equipment, preventive care and periodic maintenance are necessary to insure efficient, smooth and error-free operation. The magnetic heads in such a system are generally extremely difficult to access without partially disassembling the drive system. With the present invention, the heads in flexible drive systems employing a magnetic head on one side of the disk may be cleaned without damage to the oppositely disposed pressure pad, or, in flexible disk systems using oppositely disposed heads, such heads may be simultaneously cleaned.
2. Prior Art
In order to clean the magnetic heads of a flexible disk system in which the heads are oppositely disposed to one another, a cleaning disk made of an absorbant, lint-free and porous material which has been substantially saturated with a liquid cleaning solution over part of its area has been used, the heads being cleaned by the alternate wet-dry action of the rotating cleaning disk.
With respect to flexible disk systems using a magnetic head on one side of the disk and a pressure pad on the opposite side of the disk a different configuration must be used with respect to some flexible disk systems in order that the pressure pad not be damaged through contact with the rotating cleaning disk or the cleaning solution. In order to protect the pressure pad, a cover over the opening in the side of the shell adjacent to the pressure pad has been used. One approach has been to fabricate a tab integral with the side of the shell of the cleaning disk covering the opening in the shell opposite to that provided for the magnetic head. The pressure pad therefore presses against the tab rather than the cleaning disk and does not come in contact with the cleaning disk. In the case of flexible disk systems using oppositely disposed magnetic heads, the plastic tab can be broken away from the shell exposing an opening in the shell for a second magnetic head to contact the cleaning disk.
Alternatively, adhesively coated paper has been used to cover the opening in the shell on the side of the pressure pad, so that the pressure pad does not come into contact with the cleaning disk. The adhesively backed paper is peeled away if the cleaning disk is to be used with a flexible disk system employing oppositely disposed magnetic heads, thereby allowing such heads to access the cleaning disk.
When such devices are used with flexible disk systems in which a magnetic head is located on one side of the disk and a pressure pad on the opposite side, as the pressure pad is effectively disabled from pressing the cleaning disk against the magnetic head, less than satisfactory cleaning has been obtained, the cleaning disk not being pressed against the magnetic head with pressure sufficient to effectively clean the disk.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a device for effectively cleaning a magnetic head in a flexible disk system employing a pressure pad opposite the magnetic head without damage to the pressure pad.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a device which is easily adaptable to clean oppositely opposed magnetic heads in flexible disk systems employing such.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a device which cleans magnetic heads using an alternating wet-dry sequence employing a rotatable cleaning disk disposed in a shell.